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House built by high schoolers to be moved

A house built by Seminole Ridge High School students will be shipped out today to become a home.

The 1,206 square foot Habitate for Humanity Hawk House was built by students at Seminoles Ridge’s construction academy choice program over the last year. Throughout the morning today the four modules that make up the home are being moved on flatbed trucks from the high school on Seminole Pratt-White Road east on Okeechobee Boulevard through Royal Palm Beach to waiting foundations where the house will be permanently located at 2431 Saranac Ave. in the Westgate neighborhood of unincorporated West Palm Beach.

David Porter, the volunteer architect for the project, said the first module will likely be on its foundations by 8:30 a.m. A ceremony will be held at the school before the second module is trucked off campus. He said the modules on the truck all stack up at less than 13 feet so they will be able to move down Okeechobee Boulevard without having to remove any power lines or other overhead obstructions.

The project was built in a partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Palm Beach County, which bought the materials and owns the site where the three bedroom two bathroom house is being taken. The house was patterned after a similar project built by high schoolers in Marathon in the Florida Keys.

Porter said the construction academy has an annual contract with Habitat for Humanity and is already starting preliminary work on the next modular home it will build for the low income housing provider. That home will likely also be placed in the Westgate neighborhood sometime next year, he said.

The construction academy is one of several high school career choice programs that teach students marketable career-ready trades like construction and auto repair as opposed to the more well-known college-ready choice programs that focus on things like math, science and art. The district is also working on a plan to expand the career academy offerings at district middle schools.